A review by serendipitysbooks
The Living is Easy by Dorothy West

emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

 In Cleo Judson, protagonist of The Living is Easy, Dorothy West has created one of the more complex, more unlikeable and more memorable characters I’ve read in a long time. Cleo appeared desperate for status but was really looking for respect, security and control, which factors like race, class and gender made hard for her to achieve directly. The reader could see that the way she went about trying to achieve these goals ended up harming the people who cared about her and whom she supposedly cared about. Her treatment of her daughter was especially hard to take. Yet while I didn’t like Cleo nor most of her actions I very much understood her motivations and couldn’t help wishing she’d find a way to meet her wants and needs - just without causing harm to others; a real testament to West’s writing particularly her characterisation. 
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